Dr. Kahlen Pihowich, ND

Getting Sick

Getting Sick sucks.  Nobody likes it… (well, except for our kids when it gets them out of a day at school)  When you’re sick you are stricken with fatigue and lethargy,  your appetite changes and weird cravings show up, you can be feverish, chilled, or achey and generally you’re just way less productive.   Interestingly enough, none of these symptoms are created by whatever bug might be infecting you; these symptoms are created by you, specifically: your immune system.

The Sickness is the Cure

Your immune system is incredible at doing its’ job, but in order to do so it requires a few things in your body change: Fever/Chills keep your core body temperature higher, allowing more effective performance by immune cells ; Swelling and Secretions (like phlegm) allow for delivery of white blood cells and antibodies to tissues and surfaces that need the attention ; Energy is prioritized for the immune response, meaning there’s not much left over to move around, think, or digest very well which is why we crave more simple sugars and less complex meals; Muscle aches are also a result of less muscle recovery and more general inflammation throughout the body.  The main point here is: your body isn’t trying to punish you it’s trying to cure you, and these symptoms are a result of that action.

Don’t Mindlessly Subdue Symptoms

These symptoms are far from desirable but, if they’re the result of your immune system trying to help you, maybe we shouldn’t just pop Tylenol Cold&Sinus to feel better.  We’re not talking about severe and destructive immune reactions like severe fever or ARDS seen in the recent COVID-19 infections, these things need intervention to prevent permanent injury or death.  We’re talking about regular sickness where you just feel trashy, especially in the morning and evening.  You feel worse in the morning because you can afford to; once you’re at work your cortisol is up a bit and your immune response decreases as a result so you feel a bit better.  You can also pop and anti-inflammatory and get some relief, and there’s a time and place for that, but we should do so mindfully.  If these symptoms are a result of a curative response then maybe we want them around, especially if we can afford to feel bad.  If we stay at home and rest, letting ourselves be sick and symptomatic, our immune systems will work better and we’ll likely return to normal much faster.  So: go ahead and pop a Tylenol if you have somewhere to be, or something to do, and you do so knowing it may prolong your infection a bit longer; otherwise, if you can afford to slow down and rest, let yourself feel gross for a while, you immune system will thank you.

Written by: Kahlen Pihowich, ND